March For Life Activists Take Donald Trump As Their Mentor, But How Far?

March For Life is “extra special” for the first time in 44 years, thanks to President Donald Trump. The pro-life march takes place in Washington on Friday as the Trump administration is determined to defund Planned Parenthood. Trump’s team is trying to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which made abortion legal. According to many anti-abortion activists, this year’s march is special because they believe, for the first time, the government is with them.

Donald Trump’s pro-life policies have motivated many activists, who have struggled under Barack Obama’s pro-choice presidency. Ashley McGuire from The Catholic Association believes it is “extra special” this year, as the presidential election has been a successful campaign for them. She believes this is the first time there will be a “real opportunity” to make pro-life policies a reality. For the first time in many years, there is a real opportunity to accomplish the biggest goals, such as appointing a pro-life majority to the U.S. Supreme Court, defunding Planned Parenthood and banning abortions after the fetus can feel pain.

March For Life activists were further motivated on Monday when President Trump signed an executive order to stop the $100-million funding for Planned Parenthood. Just before the march last year, President Obama vetoed a bill to defund the organization.

“Last year’s march took place after seven years of President Obama’s aggressive, hostile pro-abortion policies in pretty much every direction,” the Washington Times quoted McGuire as saying. “I think ‘uncertainty’ is the right word to describe the direction we were going.”

Mikayle Jacquot, a junior student from the Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, is also attending the march on Friday. She believes this is a chance for everyone who never got an opportunity to attend the march so far. She believes the march is significant because abortion has killed 56 million lives so far. She calls abortion a “grave injustice.”

“Those are brilliant minds and brilliant people, and the world will never know of their gifts because they were lost before we could even meet them,” the 20-year-old student said.

March For Life President Jeanne Mancini told USA Today that there was a lot of hope and enthusiasm for the Trump administration, which promised the realization of many pro-life policies. The march this year is different from other marches in the previous years, only because of Donald Trump. “We’ve seen one executive order after the other really not protecting the inherent dignity of the human person from conception to natural death,” Mancini said.

“It’s a breath of relief, a breath fresh air, for us to now have people who are wanting to forward pro-life policies.”

While pro-life activists find a mentor in Trump, they have a bigger goal to achieve. Catholic Climate Covenant, which works with bishops across the United States, does not want the pro-life campaign to stop at preventing abortions. Executive Director Dan Misleh considers climate change as a pro-life issue as well. Even Pope Francis talked in detail about climate change issues. He is the first pope to issue an encyclical on the issue. He believes urgent actions are needed to counter climate change issues. Misleh believes climate change is as threatening to the future generations as nuclear weapons.

If March For Life activists start taking actions against climate change, it may go against Donald Trump policies. The U.S. president, as well as Vice President Mike Pence and adviser Kellyanne Conway, is against abortion. Other members of his team, including Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey, Mia B. Love of Utah and Joni Ernst of Iowa, are also against abortion. But, when it comes to climate change, they disagree with the climate change activists.

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump called climate change a hoax. He refused to believe the existence of any such theory that endangers the earth. However, his stance changed a bit later on, as he said he had started finding a connection between climate change and human activities.

Meanwhile, March for Life went live on Facebook and showed the active participation of young people.

[Featured image by Drew Angerer/Getty Images]